Siege of Ryloth (19 BBY)
The Siege of Ryloth was a conflict fought in the final days of the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic under Jedi Master Robert MacTavish against forces of the Confederacy under Darth Malinus. When the battle took place, the Republic was in the midst of its Outer Rim Sieges. Ryloth was just one of the worlds attacked by the Republic in its final spearhead offensive toward what remained of the Confederacy, who had exhausted much of its existing resources. Robert opted to take control of the Arkanis and Ferra sector offensives, hoping to use his tactical prowess and command of units to efficiently eliminate CIS targets without much collateral damage. Much unlike the final battle of Geonosis, the Siege of Ryloth was bloody, costly, and time-consuming as Darth Malinus had amassed all his resources over the planet. The ensuing battle would last ten days, with the first nine involving small dogfights and skirmishes as Robert probed and attack-in-depth the droid fleet. The last day was a full slug match between the fleets as Robert initiated a full-on assault in both orbit and on ground. The worn-out defending fleet fought a last stand, while an invasion of the 827th Legion set onto the planet and successfully eliminated Malinus' base of operations. At the end of the siege, the CIS was limited to a small fraction of their initial fleet, while the Republic suffered a great expense of much of the Black Legion and MacTavish's fleet. Background Not too long after the Battle of Coruscant, there was still much to fight over before the Confederacy could be brought to the table for peace. The CIS had spent the whole war turning Outer Rim worlds long out of the Republic's reach into fortress planets. Tythe, Ryloth, and Siskeen were three of those worlds which Robert MacTavish had opted to strike. While most other Jedi Masters were wrapped up elsewhere in the Outer Rim Sieges campaign, MacTavish sought to liberate the Arkanis sector and those around it. Robert commanded a large portion of the Open Circle fleet, and thus saw that he had enough forces to break three Confederate fortresses. He also sought to limit casualties on each world which had bolstered high populations, especially Ryloth, and Robert was confident in his ability to utilize battle meditation and tactical maneuvers to do so. Taking a good chunk of the fleet remaining from the Battle of Coruscant, Robert directed said fleet to amass over his homeworld of Corellia, where he deposited his personal assets and gathered the clone garrison there from his personal legion. The fleet then jumped to Christophsis to link up with several smaller flotillas. Once Robert divided up his command into manageable groups, they all jumped to Tythe. The battle was a swift one, with the Confederate forces being redirected to Ryloth shortly before the Open Circle Fleet's arrival. Once the garrison on world was dealt with, Robert directed the fleet to Siskeen, where the situation was similar to that of Tythe's. A day of recovery occurred, and, while the Battle of Utapau initiated, Robert ordered his fleet to Ryloth. Category:Battles